Shadows in the Sun
by Rippon
Summary: IYLotR xover: The Shikon Missions are over. But life will not stop spinning in circles long enough for her to grasp it by the hands. Kagomex?
1. Never

**Shadows in the Sun **

-:-

_Rippon_

-:-

Summary:

IYLotR x-over: The Shikon Missions are over. Kagome has nothing left. Now, she has gone to Middle Earth, in hopes of finding a source that can bring life to the dead. Her search leads her to the Fellowship, and the powerful 'One Ring'. V4P.

-:-

Chapter One:

Never

-:-

_They had all died. She had seen it. The blood, the fear, it was all there. She hated herself. She was too weak to help. They had needed her, and there had been nothing she could do. It was her fault. _

_She wasn't strong enough to protect them. She could not help damning herself for her helplessness. She had always been the weak one in the group; the useless one…_

_Never again. _

_She had been training since then, pushing herself beyond her limitations, and practicing until she had reached exhaustion. Many people had told her she was crazy, but the single thought of seeing her friends again kicked out any thoughts of giving up. She could not give up, not now, not ever._

_At this point, nearly 18 months after the Last battle, Kagome had deemed herself ready. She had both completed her once neglected Miko training with Kaede, and her weaponry drills. Her archery had been perfected, and her swordsmanship, which Sango and Inuyasha had barely begun teaching her before **that day**, had become quite good, thanks to a local swordsman who had volunteered to become her Sensei. Then, there was Hiraikotsu. Kagome had been practicing with it every evening. Amazingly enough, she had actually gotten pretty far with it. Now, along with Tetsuaiga, Miroku's Staff, and her own sword, Hotaru, Kagome had strapped Hiraikotsu to her back, and was making the long journey to Midoriko's cave._

_It had been only a week before when she had learned of the secret the cave possessed, a secret, which she fully intended to use to her advantage._

-:-

Kagome stood before Midoriko's Cave. Her heart was fluttering madly in her chest, as she realized that the moment she walked into this sacred place, there would be no turning back. Once she was in there, her entire life would change. Once she made her deal, her life would no longer be her own.

Nevertheless, she had to do it. For her friends, she would give all.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Kagome walked onto the sacred grounds. This was it. This was the beginning of the end…

"_Who is it that enters the cave of Midoriko? Who is that has a heart of Gold?_"

Kagome, unlike most people would have done, stood her ground, locking eyes with the statue containing the flesh of Midoriko and her greatest enemies.

"My name is Kagome, Great One, and I come seeking a wish." At once Kagome felt the chilly night air come to an abrupt stop.

"_A wish is what you seek? Tell me, what wish do you desire?_" the voice from before whispered, now louder with the roaring wind gone. Kagome felt chills run the length of her spine. The mysterious voice sounded almost sinister.

Shaking away her fears, she replied, "I wish for the lives and happiness of my friends to be restored."

There was silence for a moment or two, and just as Kagome began to wonder if she had said something wrong, the voice came back.

"_You are aware, are you not, of the consequences of making a wish upon the sacred stone?_"

Kagome steeled herself. She had known this was coming. Now all she had to do was deal with it. "Yeah, yeah I know what it costs. Just, please, it doesn't matter, if you can just make this wish come true, I'll give you anything!"

The voice made a sighing sound, before it replied, "Unfortunately, Young One, dealing with those who are dead is not an easy task. I cannot simply **_bring_** them back."

Kagome felt her world falling apart. 'No… not now, not after everything, please, please let this not be it!'

It seemed someone was watching out for her.

"_But_," the voice continued, "_there is one who **can** do it. You must find this unnamed thing, and once you do, it will grant your wish. However, it will still have the same consequences as before. Are you ready and willing to do such a thing? Are you prepared to travel in an unknown land with unknown dangers and the possibility that you can and most likely will fail? Are you equipped to deal with the fact that you will have a time limit to find that which you seek? Well ARE YOU!_" The voice had ended in a scream. Kagome had taken a tentative step backwards sometime during the questioning. She could fail? Her friends could remain as they were! NO!

…

But, she had no other choice did she?

"I am ready. Please, what is this thing that I seek?"

The voice replied, "_It has no name, no face, and no one knows what it is. This is also apart of your task. I shall not lie to you; it will _**not**_ be easy. You are sure you want to do this?"_

Kagome had already decided. She would not back down. She had never guessed things would be this hard, but somehow she figured it wouldn't be as easy as one-two-three. Nothing was ever easy for her…

'For my friends and their happiness.'

"Yes, I am ready."

The voice sighed again. "_Then, may Kami be with you."_

It was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.

_Owari._

-:-

Yeah, short I know. Oh well, inspiration was running short. However, the next chapter takes off, because she runs into our boys of the Fellowship. From there it should follow the original storyline. OH! And if any of you know where I can get translations for Elvish words, PLEASE TELL ME! Ugh, my Elvish is a bit rusty… oh well. HELP MUCH APPRECIATED!

(If you're confused, … well then, I shall be sure to clear it up in the upcoming chapters)

P.S.- _Brothers _chapter 3 is almost out! YAY! Inspiration has started to flow back to me! So, expect a new chapter sometime near the New Year.

Ja Ne!


	2. The Search Begins

**Shadows in the Sun**

-:-

­_Rippon_

-:-

_**Kage Otome:** Aww, thanks for reviewing. You were the first one! YAY! BTW, I love your fiction! It rocks your socks off!_

_**DragonsFlame65:** You got it dude! Hehe! Uh the pairings… well in the summary it says V4P, and that means Vote for Pairings, but I kinda already have someone in mind. It will most likely be Legolas, although if you people ask for it, I could do Sesshomaru… Just tell me whatcha want! Thanks for reviewing!_

_**Oswari49:** Well, I'm very glad you like it! And here's your update! I hope you like this chapter too! Thanks a billion for reviewing! Ja!_

_**Sara:** Oh shucks! That was so nice of you to compliment me. Oh, and don't worry about rambling! I'm an expert at doing it, so I know how easily it comes! Thank you for reviewing my humble story, and I hope you all will continue to do so! _

-:-

Chapter Two:

The Search Begins

-:-

The first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Kagome realized her eyes were closed, and had to forcefully snap them open. She immediately regretted it. The sun blinded her, and she slapped a hand over face, trying to shield her eyes from the bright light that had hurt her pupils.

Nearly seven minutes later, Kagome decided to try an open her eyes again. This time, she managed to succeed.

She froze.

Greenland rolled for miles, and the sun was roaring intensely in a bright blue sky. The wind kissed her cheek, and even that felt foreign. Her big blue eyes took in the sight of what paradise might just look like.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Kagome took small, baby steps toward this great, new land.

She could see it here. Life; she could see it. But then, somewhere in her consciousness, a dark cloud rose up. Kagome straightened herself, and closed her eyes. Taking deep breaths, she prepared herself for what was coming.

Her eyes snapped open. She was ready.

Kagome took off into a full out sprint, knowing just what she needed to do. She would begin her search here.

There would be no going back.

-:-

She had been traveling for hours. So far, she had killed eight hideous, disfigured creatures, and had met only animals. She wasn't having much luck, but this was only the beginning. In her heart, she could feel that something dark, something magical lingered. Kagome was close. She was **so** very close to finding that which could bring life to her friends.

Kagome felt the familiar prick of tears at the back of her eyes at the thought of her friends. She pushed them away with an iron will. 'No more crying,' she reminded herself. 'No more crying.'

Later that night, Kagome sat beside a fire she had made. It had started raining about a half an hour ago, but she had managed to find shelter. It was a cozy little cave off to the side of a giant ruin of a watchtower. She liked it.

Kagome was currently polishing Hotaru. She loved that sword to death; she had found it lodged inside the Goshinboku, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. She had been suspicious at first, but it hadn't long before she had fallen completely in love with it. In some ways, she felt almost as if it had been meant for her…

Kagome smiled softly to herself. She could almost hear Inuyasha telling her that such a thing would have been ridiculous. Then Miroku would take that as a distraction, grope Sango, who would in turn smack him, and they would all have a good laugh.

There was wetness on her cheeks in a second. Nevertheless, she kept on smiling. The things she was remembering now were so happy and wonderful that she didn't want to stop experiencing them.

She fell asleep crying joyful tears.

-:-

A screech echoed throughout the valley she was occupying. Her eyes were open and her hand grasped Hotaru's hilt in a second. She found herself running blindly to the source of the continuous screaming.

Someone was at the top of the old watchtower. She needed to get up there. She could hear people crying out for help; she would protect them.

She sprinted as fast as humanly possible up the steep spiraling paths to the very top. Hotaru was drawn and ready for action. She could see the familiar glow of her Firefly (1). Hotaru was hungry for some blood.

She had reached her destination in a matter of minutes, and when she got there, she didn't even take the time to be shocked at seeing strange, evil creatures dressed in black cloaks attacking what appeared to be children.

She simply began fighting. Hotaru began to glow brighter, as if issuing a warning to its opponents. The creatures seemed shocked at first, but were soon proving themselves battle worthy.

Kagome whipped her arm outward, catching one of the disturbingly dark creatures off guard. Off-handedly, she wondered what they were, but was soon to occupied with her fray to continue pondering such. Damn. These things were obviously fluent in the art of the sword. Just her luck…

Grunting, Kagome managed to dodge a possibly deadly stroke from the tallest of the swines, and thrust her leg out, catching it off guard. It dropped to the ground, having not expected such. It screeched again, as if angered horribly by this whole ordeal.

It was then that the strange happened. A man, not much older than her, appeared with a great battle cry, swinging pillars of fire at the beasts. She watched, fascinated for a moment, before regaining her senses, and hopping off the floor to assist.

The strange man had been facing another direction, when Kagome had spotted one of the ogres sneak up behind him. She had been there in a heartbeat. The man had turned around, surprised to see a young woman of incredible beauty hacking away at one of his enemies.

With a finals scream, the fiends retreated, and Kagome gave out an exhausted sigh. She turned her sights to the man. He stared at her as if he had never seen another human being before.

Kagome curtsied lazily. "Konnichiwa; Watashi wa Kagome."

The man stared at her, a confused expression falling over his features. Inwardly she grimaced. Alright, so he didn't know Japanese… hey, what about English?

Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Err- Hello. My name is Kagome. You are?"

The man blinked for a second, before the words seemed to sink in. "Ah, my name is Aragorn; pleasure to meet you Miss Kagome." He looked as if he was about to say more, when a groan interrupted.

The two stared at each other a second, before they turned and raced over to what appeared to Kagome to a child. Kneeling beside him, Kagome saw Aragorn pick up a dagger, mutter something that made no sense whatsoever to her, and then, shockingly, watch as the dagger disintegrated leaving behind nothing but a hilt.

Kagome turned worried eyes up to Aragorn. "What just happened? Is this kid gonna be all right? What were those things? Hey, are you okay?"

Aragorn turned his face up to Kagome, and she noticed just how tired he looked. He sighed, and lifted the boy up onto his shoulders. "Come with me. I'll explain everything on the way. Until then, we need to get the little ones out of here."

At his words, Kagome realized there was more than just one child standing around. Well, at least she had **_thought_** they were children. She managed to get a good look at the so-called kid in Aragorn's arms, and realized his face was quite mature. She noticed it was the same for all the "children".

A screech echoed in the distance, snapping Kagome out of her trance-like state. At Aragorn's plea, she snatched up the other three… whatever they were, and carried them.

It was nearly half an hour later that they finally came to a stop. However, Kagome soon realized that they were not out of danger quite yet.

Aragorn turned to one of the little men, "Sam, are you familiar with the Eferlas plant?"

Sam answered in an unsure tone. "Eferlas?" Aragorn's eyes squinted for a second, as if he was running over some options in his head, when he suddenly replied;

"Kingsfoil."

At the mention of this plant, Sam agreed that he had in fact heard of it, by mentioning that it was a weed.

Aragorn quickly stated that it would slow the poison, and the two rushed off in search off it. Meanwhile, Kagome and the two uninjured men watched over the one who had been stabbed.

"D-do you think he'll be alright?" One of them stuttered. He had sandy colored hair that curly about his head, and he appeared to be the youngest of the group of dwarves, as Kagome had deemed them.

The other one answered solemnly, "I don't know Pip. I just don't know."

Kagome stared at them for a couple minutes, before deciding that the atmosphere was too melancholy. 'Besides,' she reasoned with herself, 'introductions are long overdue.'

Decision made, she stood, dusted herself off, and marched over to the two dwarves. They must have heard her coming, for they looked up at her expectantly, just as she arrived beside them.

Curtsying again, Kagome said, "Hello, my name is Kagome. Who might you be?" The one who had inquired about his friend's welfare looked innocently up at her, smiling a toothy grin.

"'Ello to you to, milady. The name's Pippin. And this here's me cousin, Merry. Nice to be meeting ya." Kagome smiled fondly at him, before turning and smiling at the other dwarf man. Although he seemed a bit more cautious, he smiled kindly at her, and she found herself liking him a lot as well.

It was then that Aragorn and Sam came back. However, they did not come back alone. Along side them was a beautiful woman. She quickly knelt beside the wounded dwarf, speaking in an unknown tongue. Kagome grasped the hilt of Hotaru. The words, although not evil sounding, reminded her of Urusue's voice be-spelling her into loosing her soul, and Kagome immediately put herself on alert incase anything bad came of the strange words. In short, Kagome feared that the woman was whispering a hex.

That all came to an abrupt close, though, when Aragorn began to speak in the strange tongue as well. Kagome relaxed only slightly, still on high alert for those monsters from before. She'd be damned if she allowed anyone else to be harmed.

She was brought back from her thoughts when she heard the one named Sam's cry of "Those Wraiths are still out there!" in time to see the beautiful woman carrying the wounded dwarf off on a beautiful white horse. Here eyebrows furrowed. What idiocy was this?

Stomping up to Aragorn, Kagome spun him around and lifted him up by his garments, watching as his expression changed from that of worry to shock.

"Hey, those Wra-the-hoose-what-the are still out there; are you completely sure that woman can protect him? Well, are you sure!"

Aragorn looked for a single, solitary moment at Kagome, astonishment and awe shining brightly in his eyes, before he snapped them shut, and turned his head away from hers.

His answer was simple, yet frustrating, and it left Kagome in a worried fit for someone she hadn't known for but a few seconds when he had awoken on their journey to the small clearing they currently resided in.

"I don't know."

_Owari._

-:-

Yeah, changes from the movie (dialogue) but it wasn't as if I was watching the movie while writing this! So, I've decide you'll simply have to deal with this. HA! Hey, ANYONE WHO KNOWS ELVISH PLEASE HELP ME! Ahem, uh… oh! About _Brothers_; I'm trying and trying to get some inspiration for it, so some help tips should really help. BTW, in the next chappie of this fic, Kag meets the ever-famed LEGOLAS (drools)! YEAH! So, be expecting some friction (though not all good) in the next chapter. No promises though…

(1)- Hotaru is Japanese for 'Firefly' and if it was a little confusing about the whole 'glowing' thing, just think of Sting, Frodo's sword. It the same, except Hotaru glows orange-red, like a firefly, hence it's name.

Ja!


End file.
